Unfortunately, about this time a power arose, to withstand which would have required the utmost exertions of Athens in her best days. Macedon, re mote and barbarous, had hitherto been scarcely num: bored among the Grecian nations ; but the.activity of some of her late sovereigns had improved her civil and military constitution ; and in this last respect, she now united all the energy of a barbarous people, with the arts of one. Philip had recently as cended the throne ; a prince of the highest accom plishments, both as a warrior and statesman, ar 'dently ambitious of extending his dominions, and ae quiring an influence in the general concerns of Greece.
• The first subjects of contest were the towns on the • Thracian coast, which were equally objects of ambi tion to the two parties. The Athenians, urged par ticularly by the hope of recovering Amphipolis, had •sent a force in support of ArgTus, a pretender to the • crown of Macedon. ArgTus and his auxiliaries were completely defeated ; but Philip; who felt it 'to be still his interest to court the favour of the Athe nians, and wha....,Tas ambitious of the fame of clemen cy, not only dAmissed his prisoners without ransom, .but agreed to withdraw his claims upon Amphipolis, and to allow the Athenians an opportunity of re gaining that favourite object of their ambition. Am phipoliS endeavoured to protect itself, by joining a giand confederacy of Thracian cities, which had Olynthus for its head. A ground of dissension was thus established between Athens and Olynthus, which proved equally prejudicial to both, whose interest it was to have united against Philip. Athens, however, sent an armament against Amphipolis, under the command of Iphicrates. That general reduced the city to extremity, and brought it to accept 'of a ca pitulation ; but as the conditions were on the point of being executed, Timotheus arrived with a com mission which superseded that of Iphicrates. The inhabitants, who had trusted to the personal charac ter of the commander, rather than to the faith of the Athenian state, refused to place the same confidence in another man ; the. negociation was broken off; and the Athenian mercenaries having slipt away, the whole enterprize failed.
This good understanding did not long continue be tween two powers so restless and ambitious. There appears reason to suspect, that the Athenians finding, through the disposition of the people, an opportu nity to take possession of Pydna, a Macedonian city, did not scruple to avail themselves of it. Phi
lip, therefore, having freed himself from his enemies on the'side of Illyria and Thrace, and seeing no long er any thing very formidable in the military character of the Athenians, formed an alliance with Olynthus against them, and subdued Pydna, and Potidxa. To cement his alliance with Olynthus, as well as to maintain the character of ostentatious ge which he affected, he presented that state with the two'last mentioned cities.
Athens was withheld from resisting these advances, not only by her internal feebleness and disunion, but by two other wars in which she was, about this time, involved. The sacred war was then raging in Pho.. cis ; an event of which the details will be found in their proper place. The Athenians engaged in it as auxiliaries to the Phocians ; but though they seem to have espoused the justest cause, yet they escaped not the suspicion of having been biassed, by receiving a share of the treasure of which the Phocian leader Philomelus had impiously despoiled the temple of Delphi. Thefrendered, however, an important, set.
vice to Greece, by barring- the pass of Thermopylx against Philip, who, having already established his influence in Thessaly, had eagerly embraced the im prudent invitation of the Amphictyons to place him self at their head.
Another and a more interesting event now excited the attention of Athens. We have already adverted to the oppressive sway which she exercised over her subject allies. This was carried to a much greater height, when the command fell into hands equally weak and profligate. Till now, the Athenians had always, with little distinction of party, placed the most able officers at the head of their armaments. Of these, they still possessed abundance ; and Chabrias, Timotheus, and Iphicrates, were well calculated to support the reputation of the Athenian name. To them, however, the populace now preferred Chares, a partizan of some activity and enterprize, but total ly unfit for the management of great affairs, and who conciliated the favour of the people, by flattering their passions, and by distributing among them his ill-gotten plunder. Being repeatedly vested with the command of the fleet, his exactions became at length so enormous, that several of the principal de pendencies, Rhodes, Chios, Cos, and Byzantium, threw off the yoke, and openly asserted their inde pendence. Hence arose what is called the Social 1Var.